Volusia council votes no on neighborhood Publix near Samsula

The debate centered on whether a small shopping center or a planned commercial district was best for the area.

By Dinah Voyles Pulverdinah.pulver@news-jrnl.com

DELAND — A plan to build a Publix supermarket at the intersection of Pioneer Trail and Airport Road between Port Orange and Samsula was denied Thursday by the Volusia County Council. The council voted 6-1 to deny a land use change that would have cleared the way for construction of the proposed supermarket at the northeast corner of the intersection.Councilwoman Joyce Cusack cast the lone dissenting vote, which came at the end of a lengthy three-hour discussion and comments from nearly 20 county residents. Council members raised concerns about the agricultural nature of the neighborhood, the traffic the project would generate on Pioneer Trail and the need for comprehensive long-term planning in the community.Councilwoman Deb Denys, who represents that area in Southeast Volusia, said her concerns had been the same from the first time she met the property owner, Sheldon Rubin, shortly after being elected. “My concern then was ingress and egress on Pioneer Trail,” said Denys. “These are very real planning concerns that will have to be addressed. Pioneer Trail is a two-lane road with no median and no shoulders.”Councilwoman Pat Northey said her vote against the project is consistent with her long-time stance against “strip mall planning.” “I’ve been consistent in trying to protect the rural core of the county,” said Northey. Cusack disagreed. “It is the right location,” she said. “It’s the right place and the right time,” she said, to serve the residents in that neighborhood.The issue pitted Rubin, a South Florida developer, against an influential, long-time local developer Mori Hosseini, who expects to begin construction this summer on a much larger mixed use development known as Woodhaven about two miles away. It also left long-time residents and farming families in Samsula with opposing viewpoints. For example, George Benedict spoke in support of the Publix. Benedict said if he didn't want growth he should have bought all the land around that land to prevent it, adding that he leases land in the community to raise beef cattle, in addition to the 20 acres he owns. "We need this store now."His cousin, Mary Pleterski, spoke against it, appealing to the council to retain the rural nature of the community. Pleterski said her husband was born 200 feet from where their home stands today in Samsula.“I understand where some people are coming from,” said Pleterski, “but for us this is an agriculture area and we do not want it to become a commercial area.” Rubin’s attorney, James Stowers, said the project would not create any additional traffic because residents in the area already are driving the roads when they leave to go to work and shop elsewhere. Stowers said Rubin had carefully followed all the rules and should be allowed to develop his project. Other projects approved by the council in recent years did not invoke “holding hands” and joint community planning, he said.At times the meeting grew heated, with Port Orange Mayor Allen Green calling Rubin a carpetbagger. Green said the city of Port Orange wants to sit down and plan how to do development “right.” Council members took Rubin to task for a strongly worded email he sent to the council and voiced frustration with County Chair Jason Davis that his consultants were given extra time to speak.In a rare appearance before the council, Hosseini delivered an impassioned 10-minute speech, calling the issue emotional and “very personal.” “I have really worked my butt off for a decade,” said Hosseini, describing the time he's invested to get Woodhaven approved. But in the end, Hosseini said he would live with the decision of the council, if the council felt Rubin’s project was “in the best interest of the long-term planning of this area and our county.” Cusack, a Democrat, said she had never met Hosseini, who has been a major Republican fundraiser, or heard him speak. But she told him she was impressed with his delivery. “You almost made me change my mind,” she said.